My setting is above yours!

Chapter 19 College Entrance Examination Reform

[Your player level has increased: Lv.1 → Lv.2!]

[“Setting: Personal Reality (Lv.1)” is promoted to “Setting: Personal Reality (Lv.2)”]

[“Setting: Fantasy Dissolution” is upgraded based on your personal real-world advancement.]

It doubles its resistance to mystery and can dispel the effects of higher-level mystery.

At the same time, its durability will be improved, allowing it to dispel more mysteries without collapsing.

Besides the improvement in personal reality, even the ability to dispel fantasies has improved as a result?
Ron immediately opened the details page for [Illusion Dissolution] and found that it had just been damaged. The damage level, which should have been 100%, had now become 50%.

In other words... after the promotion, the durability of [Fantasy Dissolution] has doubled?
In addition, its ability to "dispel mystery" has been enhanced...

Ron seemed to be deep in thought, and couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth into a smile.

It seems that the current [Illusion Dissolution] has the ability to affect those at Sequence Seven and above.

In other words, even if he fails to become Lv.3 and remains only Lv.2, he still has a certain degree of confidence to return to the "Potion Era".

After all, for the time being, the strongest enemy to be defeated is only a Sequence 7.

If we can defeat those dozen or so Fire Knights empowered by the [Overseer's] extraordinary abilities without using [Illusion Dissolve]...

No, no, that's too extreme.

Winning is only possible when all your cards are played... that's too risky.

Before the next "Out of Control" event affects ability advancement, and before acquiring more trump cards, it's best not to return to this "Potion Era".

Ron put the "Potion Era" out of his mind and looked eagerly at his palm—

More than the events of the "Potion Era," he is now concerned about how much stronger his [Vector Manipulation] ability has become after becoming Lv.2!
He closed his eyes and silently experienced his personal reality.

The personal reality that had been gradually expanding has finally subsided, and Ron's personal reality is now significantly stronger than before.

After Ron put on the "ability limiter," which restricted the output of his ability model to less than 10%, his personal reality could only affect an area with a diameter of a few centimeters around him.

Therefore, when using [Vector Manipulation], he has to throw the stones himself or wait for others to get close...

But now, all of that is in the past.

The Lv.2 personal reality has expanded several times over, now encompassing a circle one meter in diameter around Ron.

This personal reality is already enough to allow Ron to do many things that he couldn't do before!

For example, like now—

He moved at will, and the cup on the table floated up out of thin air...

He controlled the cup and suddenly splashed it on himself.

The spilled water remained suspended in mid-air before being reflected back, landing gracefully in the glass without getting a single drop on him.

The direction of most forces within the range can be controlled, the reflective field is expanded, and the duration is longer.

And most importantly...

Ron looked up at the light in his room.

The lighting fixtures in Ideal City have been iterated and updated countless times. Even though they are cheap products, their quality is guaranteed until they reach the service life specified by the company.

Ron's voice-activated lights had just been replaced not long ago, and there were still several months left before the company-specified lifespan—which was also the time before they inexplicably broke down—so there wouldn't be any problems for now.

It emits light steadily and gently, but...

Ron took a deep breath and activated his ability model at full power.

The lights started flickering inexplicably, indicating an abnormal circuit continuity.

"Clap."

The circuit breaker tripped.

really……

Ron turned on the power switch, a smile playing on his lips.

After leveling up to Lv.2, his [Vector Manipulation] skill clearly had a wider range of applications!

It's important to know that vector manipulation involves more than just influencing gravity and momentum...

All vectors are within its control!

Electromagnetic force is naturally included in this category.

However, after the ability was restricted, Ron was unable to unleash the full power of [Vector Manipulation].

Now, thanks to his Lv.2 personal reality strength, he has finally been able to bear a portion of the power that [Vector Manipulation] should possess.

However... it seems that the control over electromagnetic fields is not very strong.

It now seems that this level of control is far inferior to that of a pure electromagnetic ability user...

For example, An Hui, as a user of the [Magnetic Field Rotation] ability, has a much stronger control over electromagnetism than Ron does now.

Perhaps, once the limitations on his abilities are lifted to a certain extent, and his control over [vector manipulation] is further enhanced, he will become even stronger...

Ron pondered silently, subconsciously controlling his ability to toss his cup through the air, catching it precisely with his power—

But suddenly he couldn't catch it.

The cup suddenly shot out like a bullet loaded with gunpowder, smashing into the ceiling and exploding into a shower of shards.

…What’s going on?!
Ron stared in astonishment at his palm, only to suddenly realize that the indicator light on the "ability limiter" he was wearing around his neck had turned bright red.

"Drip drip!"

The alarm blared, and Ron immediately realized what had happened.

No wonder... no wonder I became Lv.2 immediately after the suppression of [Extraordinary Out of Control] was lifted!

It turns out that the "ability limiter" was overloaded under certain circumstances due to the more active personal reality...

Now, because Ron used his ability too many times during the "Potion Era" and the initial testing, the "Ability Limiter" is completely overloaded!

A crisp notification sound came from the Dimensional Update Manual:
[Player has successfully overloaded Lv.2 superpowers; hidden settings removal in progress]

[Setting Excerpt: Ability Overload]
The limits of humanity are the boundaries of ideals.

Only by pushing the limits can we build our "ideal".

"This time, I will gamble with my life... to rewrite a reality that you are powerless to tread!"

—The Absolute Ability User, CEO of Moen Business [α].

This setting is tied to superpowered individuals. Loading this setting will overload the extraordinary abilities you use, unleash the full potential of those abilities, and optimize their ability models.

However, when you overload your computing power with superpowers beyond your control, you will be unable to control the power model, leading to computing overload.

Why is it another negative setting like "Out of Control"?

Ron frowned, trying to control his [Personal Reality], which was gradually exceeding his controllable limits—but the ability that was once under his control slipped through his fingers like fine sand, and he returned to the time when he tried to break through Lv.2 but had not yet solved [Supernatural Out of Control].

Everything around them became restless, and the originally soft and stable lights began to flicker.

Capacity overload, computing power overload... all of this is imminent.

As expected, these kinds of things can't be solved by so-called willpower and self-confidence...

Damn it, you forced me to do this!
Ron, unable to bear it any longer, clicked the small minus sign next to "Ability Overload".

In an instant, all fluctuations in ability vanished.

Everything that had been restless returned to normal, the unstable lights were back on, and it was as if nothing had ever happened...

The "ability limiter" around his neck no longer beeps as an alarm, but it is still flashing red.

Ron tried to use [Vector Manipulation] again, but as soon as he tried to grab a wisp of wind, he noticed the "ability limiter" around his neck sounding an alarm once more—

The next moment, [Ability Overload] automatically loaded and appeared once again in the Dimensional Update Manual!

Indeed, if the completely overloaded "ability limiter" cannot be fixed and the ability model limitations cannot be properly implemented...

No matter how Ron uses [Vector Manipulation] now, his ability will immediately be overloaded due to the strength of the ability model.

...Unfortunately, it's too late.

Tomorrow, I'll go to the training center to have Coach Deng Yin fix it.

Ron sighed and cleaned up the mess caused by his overload.

……

the next day.

Ron strolled leisurely through the commercial street in Zone C, when suddenly an advertisement he'd never seen before popped up on the big screen—

A scantily clad, beautiful young woman was writing furiously in the exam hall when suddenly the student in front of her stood up and abruptly reached out to her...

The next moment, a flame emerged from his palm and shot out toward the young woman's exam paper!

Clearly, this was an attempt to burn the young woman's exam paper, causing her to receive a zero score in her academic subjects because she failed to submit her paper!
But at this moment...

The pencil case on the young woman's desk suddenly stood up, expanding and extending like a miniature mecha, transforming into a tiny steel figure that blocked the exam paper—

An energy barrier was erected, directly blocking the flames from the examinee in front!
The young woman continued writing furiously, easily escaping the crisis that could have burned her exam paper, without affecting her exam performance at all.

On the screen, after finishing her exam, she picked up her pencil case, which had returned to its original state, and smiled at the camera.
"There are risks in the examination room, so be careful when taking the exam."

"Sunshine Stationery, your guardian angel for your exams, ensuring your success all the way!"

"Purchase the Protector pencil case and the Attacker ballpoint pen now for a package price of only 9999 credits..."

...What are all these things?!
Ron looked at the screen speechlessly. How did it become like a battlefield for the college entrance examination in Ideal City?
They even started protecting the exam papers...

It's important to understand that while the major corporations in Ideal City have a history of being somewhat inhumane, with various extra points affecting students' rankings outside of the college entrance exam, the exam itself has consistently been considered fair and rigorous.

At the very least, such behavior of damaging the exam papers of other candidates in the same examination room will immediately result in an arrest by the patrol bureau officers, and they won't be able to get out of jail without paying out more than 100,000 credits...

The innocent victims whose exams were affected will be taken to a separate make-up exam room and retake the exam using spare exam papers.

What a bizarre advertisement...

Ron silently pushed open the door to the Ability Training Hall, where Dunn was waiting for him.

"You're here? Today... Hmm? What's wrong with your ability limiter?"

Dunn immediately noticed the silver collar around Ron's neck, and his expression turned serious as he looked at the flashing red light.

"My ability has broken through its limits and reached Lv.2, directly exceeding its capacity..."

Ron's simple explanation left Dunn looking on in astonishment.

"You...you can actually break through the limiter?! And even break through to Lv.2 under the restriction?"

The usually composed old man was momentarily lost in thought. He leaned on his cane, propped himself up on the ground, and shook his head in a daze.

Finally, after a long silence, a bitter smile appeared on his lips as he looked at Ron with a slightly wry gaze:

"Perhaps... your abilities have far more potential for development than I think."

I misjudged your potential... Never mind, let's not talk about this.

He shook his head, stopped talking about these sentimental words, and led Ron into the basement.

They quickly reset the "ability limiter" and adjusted the restrictions on Ron's abilities.

"The impact of the promotion is not small... Your controllable range of abilities has increased considerably."

Deng put on his glasses and handed over the data to record:

“I’ve adjusted your ability limit to 11%—it might be a little difficult to control, but I think you should be able to manage it.”

He tapped on the data screen and pointed to the records on it:
"Your ability has already experienced a temporary breakthrough beyond its limits once, so it's currently impossible to determine to what extent you need to control your ability model to reach Lv.3..."

However, based on simple calculations, I suspect that if you control your ability model to 35%, you'll have a chance to reach the Lv.3 threshold.

Thirty-five percent?
Ron shook his head as he sensed the slightly volatile power within his palm.

I don't know how much longer I'll have to train to unlock the ability model to 35% without breaking down...

At least by sheer hard work, it would probably take Ron at least a year to raise his computing power and personal reality to a level capable of supporting 35% of [Vector Manipulation].

It seems impossible to reach Level 3 before the college entrance exam...

However, there are only a handful of people in the entire history of Ideal City who can reach Lv.3 during the college entrance examination, so Ron doesn't really care.

Those geniuses who could reach Lv.3 before the college entrance exam, if I remember correctly, each of them eventually obtained their own unique "ability title" and became Lv.5, standing at the pinnacle of Ideal City...

Level 2 is enough—even if he can't get first place in Moen University, at least he can make it into the top ten. Ron definitely has a chance!

Ron thought to himself as he followed Dunn out of the basement, when he suddenly heard Dunn say:

"By the way, I see you're overloaded and probably not paying attention to the news... Did you see the ads on those big screens outside?"

advertise?

Ron immediately thought of that Sunshine Stationery commercial and pursed his lips:
"I did see it, but that advertisement felt weird. It made the college entrance exam seem like a battlefield..."

"You really don't understand..."

Deng sighed, "Those advertisements are actually fine. Although the content looks very strange, they are indeed special products made for this year's college entrance examination."

"I don't know why, but the municipal government increased the weight of combat effectiveness in this ability test and decreased the weight of cultural subjects."

Furthermore, this capability test will be changed to a capability competition open to investment from all companies.

“In other words,” he said seriously, “the college entrance examination has been reformed.”

"The focus of reform... is combat!"

(End of this chapter)